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To: BillyJoe McCallister who wrote (7535)	3/22/2001 12:20:49 AM
From: Mark Marcellus	Respond to of 17683

Reasonable answer, although I disagree. First, I don't think that measuring the money supply is any more difficult than attempting to gauge the direction of the economy in real time. In fact, it's probably easier, although far from easy. I also don't think that it's fair to call Volcker's efforts a failure. He, as much as anyone, lay the groundwork for the bull market of the 80's and 90's. Furthermore, it is one thing to say that you can't drive the economy through control of the money supply, and quite another to blithely let the money supply spiral out of control. If there is a valid complaint to be laid at Greenspan's door, that is it. Complaining that he was "too slow" to loosen rates completely misses the point. He's been loose since at least the time of LTCM, to the point where the economy was going to crash regardless of what the Fed did.

To: BillyJoe McCallister who wrote (7535)	3/22/2001 12:45:43 AM
From: Thomas M.	Respond to of 17683

You need to read another viewpoint besides Greider. interest rates will be highly volatile. This is untrue. Were interest rates volatile under the gold standard? Of course not. This increased volatility was a short-term phenomenon characteristic of all financial innovations. Volker experimented with this in 1980, and that's what happened. It was a colossal failure. It was a political failure, and got him fired. It was an economic success. He crushed inflation and restored the soundness of the dollar. The Socialist Greider was just upset because he wanted the Fed to redistribute wealth to the poor via inflation. Have you noticed how Greider is all of a sudden blaming the Fed for being too loose in the 1990s, and fueling the asset bubble? He's right, but any joker can see that now. It's hypocritical that he wants easy money for the masses, but tight money for the owners of capital. Tom